Memorandum submitted by the National Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)
INTRODUCTION
The NSPCC welcomes the inquiry of the Justice
Committee into "Justice Issues in Europe". From our
work, we are aware that some aspects of child sexual abuse and
sexual exploitation have European or international dimensions
and can no longer only be effectively tackled by individual governments
acting alone. For a number of years we have highlighted the need
for improved EU cooperation to address child protection issues
where there is a cross-border dimension, to complement and add
value to national actions. In particular, this work has focused
on the risks to children resulting from greater movement of people
across borders, as well as in the rapidly changing online world
and the threats posed to children.
Many of these issues fall within the justice domain.
These include initiatives to prevent and protect children from
sexual abuse, as well as combating child trafficking and protecting
child victims. In addition, we note that the new five-year "Stockholm
Programme" will also cover fundamental rights issues, including
children's rights.
In this submission the NSPCC draws the attention
of the Justice Committee to some areas which we consider should
be included in the Stockholm Programme. To support our submission
we are also attaching some supplementary evidence.
1. Combating child sexual abuse and child
abuse images
The European Commission has recently published
a proposal for a Council Framework Decision "on combating
child sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and child abuse images".[79]
It is important that reaching agreement on this proposal is prioritised
under the Swedish as well as subsequent EU Presidencies. In the
NSPCC's view the proposal contains a number of elements which
will add to the protection of children through enhancing cross-border
cooperation and ensuring a unified European response to child
sexual abuse where there is a transnational dimension, such as
combating online images of child abuse, and protecting children
from convicted sex offenders. Following adoption of the proposal,
implementation should be monitored, and Member States should exchange
best practice and continue to improve cooperation on these issues.
The NSPCC has produced a detailed position paper
on elements which we consider should be included in an EU Framework
Decision and would be happy to provide this on request.
2. Safer recruitment of workers in a border-free
Europe
The NSPCC has highlighted over a number of years
the need to ensure that information on convicted child sex offenders
can be exchanged between Member States, including for use in recruitment
of persons to positions working with children. This question is
considered in detail in our report "Protecting children
from sexual abuse in Europe: safer recruitment of workers in a
border-free Europe" (NSPCC, 2007)[80]
as well as a number of briefings over recent years.[81]
We are encouraging Member States to ensure that the
revised Framework Decision mentioned above includes provisions
which would contribute to resolving this problem, based on the
European Commission's proposals. We expect that there will be
a need to continue to prioritise the issue over the coming five
years, both through improving criminal record information exchange
(and ensuring it can be used for safe recruitment purposes) as
well as exchanging best practice between Member States on keeping
children safe in organisations working with them.
3. Child trafficking
The NSPCC is encouraging the EU Institutions
to keep the issue of child trafficking high on its priority list
for the years 2010—2014. This remains a significant problem
and trafficked children are among the most vulnerable in our societies.
In particular we would like to see a children's rights and child
protection focus in all actions relating to child trafficking.
A priority must be to ensure that EU immigration and asylum legislation
and policies are designed taking into account the best interests
of the child. Child victims of trafficking are often made more
vulnerable due to insecure immigration status and being treated
as illegal immigrants, rather than vulnerable children.[82]
4. Protection of children from violence
The NSPCC notes that the Daphne Programme which aims
"to combat violence against children, young people and women"
has funded a host of valuable research and other projects. We
welcome the adoption of the Daphne III programme for the period
2007-13 and encourage the EU to ensure that the programme continues
to support a range of projects related to the implementation of
children's right to protection from all forms of violence, and
that the learning from these projects is gathered and disseminated.
This is a useful contribution from the EU to the implementation
of the recommendations of the UN's global study on violence against
children (2006).[83]
5. Ensuring children's rights and protection
are integrated across policies in the Justice field
A priority for 2010-14 should be ensuring that children's
rights, including the best interests of the child (Article 3,
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) are systematically taken
into account throughout policies in this area, as many of them
affect children. For example, policies on protection of crime
victims must ensure that child-specific provisions are included,
and that cross-cutting provisions are not detrimental to children
who are victims of crime. Another example is policies on the protection
of personal data, where it is essential that these take into account
the need for protection of children's data,[84]
as well as the importance of being able to access certain data
for the protection of children from sex offenders, for example.
6. Children's rights strategy
Many areas of EU policy-making affect children, as
noted in the Commission's 2006 Communication "Towards a European
strategy on the rights of the child".[85]
It is essential that the EU ensure that its activities are in
line with children's fundamental rights, as set out in the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), as well as in the
EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights, Article 24 of which concerns
children's rights. All 27 EU Member States have ratified the UNCRC.[86]
We welcome the work done by the current Commission
to develop an EU strategy on the rights of the child, based on
the 2006 Communication. The adoption and implementation of the
strategy should be prioritised for 2010. It is important to note
that while DG Freedom, Security and Justice has been given the
primary responsibility for taking forward the European Commission's
work on children's rights, children are affected by other areas
of the Commission's work. The strategy should play a key role
in ensuring that children's rights, interests and needs are taken
into account across policy areas. The EU institutions' first steps
towards taking children's views into account in developing EU
policies should also be built upon over the next five-year period,
in line with Article 12 of the UNCRC on child participation.
Supplementary evidence
— "Protecting children from sexual
abuse in Europe: safer recruitment of workers in a border-free
Europe" (NSPCC, 2007). — Save the Children Europe Group
and the National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children
(NSPCC) "Statement to EU Member States on the proposal for
a Council Framework Decision on combating the sexual abuse, sexual
exploitation of children and child pornography, repealing Framework
Decision 2004/68/JHA.(COM (2009)135 final)".
June 2009
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/policyandpublicaffairs/Europe/Briefings/NSPCCpositionontrafficking_wdf57918.pdf
79 Proposal for a Council Framework Decision "on
combating the sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children and
child abuse images, repealing Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA"
COM(2009)135final, 25.3.2009. Back
80
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/Findings/protectingchildrenfromsexualabuseineurope_wda51227.html Back
81
Please see www.nspcc.org.uk/europe to download relevant briefings Back
82
NSPCC position on protecting victims of trafficking in the EU
(November 2006) Back
83
http://www.violencestudy.org/r25 Back
84
See the NSPCC response to Working Document 1/2008 on the protection
of children's personal data (General guidelines and the special
case of schools) of the EU Article 29 Data Protection Working
Party: http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/policyandpublicaffairs/Europe/Briefings/PersonalData_wdf58292.pdf Back
85
COM (2006) 367 final. Back
86
In addition, the as yet unratified Lisbon Treaty includes children's
rights as one of the EU's objectives. Back
| 
